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Eyes: An incredibly pale silver-blue—almost colorless.
Body type: Round hips. Several inches shorter than Poppy and shorter than the other Handmaidens.
Facial features: Olive skin. Oval face. Full, wide mouth. Strong brow. Stubborn jaw.
Distinguishing features: Fangless teeth. Some freckles on nose and cheeks. Wears a mask in a reddish black that extends from her hairline to below her eyes and stretches to nearly her jaw on both sides—looks like the wings of a bird of prey.
Personality: Kind. Cheery and chipper. Polite. A bit odd. Keeps emotions behind tight walls.
Other: Possibly close to two hundred years old—the war ended four hundred years ago, and Ires came to Isbeth two hundred years later.
Habits/Mannerisms/Strengths/Weaknesses: Not susceptible to compulsion. Carries crescent-shaped shadowstone blades. Claims to excel at behaving but has a habit of shedding blood needlessly. When she uses arrows, she tips each with shadowstone. Loves to hum but is terrible at it. Has a habit of rambling. Forced loyalty is to Isbeth, but she still tries to protect people.
Background: Revenant Handmaiden. Didn’t survive her Culling, so Isbeth turned her into a Revenant. However, most think she’s like a Revenant yet…not, which is somewhat true given that she’s not a third daughter and her origins were slightly different.
Family: Mother = Isbeth †. Father = Ires. Sister = Penellaphe Da’Neer. Ancestors = Nyktos and Seraphena.
MILLIE’S JOURNEY TO DATE:
Born to Queen Ileana (a.k.a Isbeth) and Ires Mierel, Millicent’s life started as a bit of a lie and something not hers to command. The first daughter referenced in the prophecy, she was always meant to be a tool. That became even truer when she didn’t survive her Culling, and Isbeth, unwilling to let her die, used Primal magic to turn Millie into a Revenant—or at least something having Revenant traits. I’m still wondering if there’s more to that story that has yet to be uncovered. Anyway, it resulted in her becoming one of the Queen’s personal guards—a Handmaiden—and being trained in every manner of death known.
She and Malik Da’Neer are heartmates, but as far as I know, she remains in the dark about that fact. Though maybe she does know and just chooses to ignore it. It’s also been said that Isbeth forced Malik to do many unspeakable things to her, and it forever changed their relationship. We do not, however, know what those things are yet.
Millie’s history comes to me in flashes and bits. I haven’t been able to piece it all together quite yet, but most of what happened when she finally met Casteel and then her sister is fairly clear.
When Poppy, Casteel, and their group infiltrate the castle and come across Ires as a cat, Millie cuts them off in the hallway. Delano sees her as a threat and immediately attacks, but she bests him in seconds, shocking the others. Casteel attempts to use compulsion on her to make her let Delano go, and it has no effect. When the wolven asks her what she is, she tells them all she’s a Handmaiden…and many other things.
Millie politely asks Delano to behave himself and reveals that she has a nasty habit of shedding blood unnecessarily. She also insinuates that she excels at behaving and makes a point to emphasize that they have not behaved by going where they should not have gone—the underground tunnels—and seeing what they should not have seen—Ires.
She offers to keep it from the Queen if they promise to do as they’re told, but adds that if they don’t, it won’t be them who pays the price, it’ll be their cohorts who approach the eastern gates. This lets the group know that their plan has been foiled.
While they’re all before the Queen, Isbeth uses Millie to demonstrate what a Revenant is and what they can do by having a guard stab her in the heart. She dies and then resurrects as she always does, once again moving to stand at the Queen’s side and listening to them discuss a Revenant’s strengths.
When the Queen has Ian beheaded, Millie can’t hide her shock. To me, that indicates she’s not as icy as she tries to portray.
As Poppy raises the furious storm outside of Oak Ambler after Casteel gives himself up, Millie appears before her and tells her to stop, hinting that Poppy will hurt innocents if she continues. When she orders the others of the group to intervene, and nobody moves, she tacks on a threat that if they don’t stop her, she will. Poppy throws a net of power at her, and Millie tells her it won’t work, also making Poppy aware that a shadowstone arrow is pointed at her head.
After Poppy finally calms a bit, Millie tells her she’s sorry about Ian. She then makes sure the group understands that all the vamprys have left and only innocents remain, so they shouldn’t be so hasty to wipe out the entire place. When Poppy threatens her further, Millie laughs and says she would welcome the final death.
They talk a bit more, and Millie finally reveals that the Ascended will take Cas to the capital, but she doesn’t know where. She goes on to say that Isbeth will have the Revenants and Malik watching him, and that the only way Poppy can save him is if she brings the fire of the gods.
This may seem like an innocuous statement, that Poppy should bring everything she has, but in my interpretation, she’s actually telling Poppy that she needs to secure Nyktos’s guards. I love that she revealed that Poppy needed to get the draken without coming right out and saying it.
About thirty days into Casteel’s imprisonment, Millie goes to see him. After looking him over, she informs him that she thinks his finger is infected. When Cas asks her why she’s there, she admits that she made a promise to someone—which we later find out was Malik. She tries to get him to bathe, and he sasses her at every turn. Finally, she quips that he must be cranky because he’s hungry and tells him that Malik gets that way, too.
Interesting that she knows that and would bring it up.
Cas asks her where his brother is, and she replies that he’s probably here, there…everywhere he’s not supposed to be. When he states that she must be around Malik a lot to know what he’s like when he needs to feed, she says she’s really not. She’s just observant.
I don’t believe that for a second. Knowing what we know about Malik’s extracurricular activities beyond the Queen’s notice, that statement about him being in places he shouldn’t takes on a bit of a new meaning, though I’m not saying that because I have proof. It is merely conjecture.
As Millie scrubs the symbols from her skin using Cas’s bath water, they talk about the tunnels and wards. She tells Cas how Poppy broke the wards when she Ascended into her godhood, allowing things to get in and out, though not even Callum knows when and where. When Cas asks more about the golden one, Millie tells him that Callum’s really old.
Millicent reveals that she would have killed Isbeth, but the Queen is a god—we know she’s really not, but… Then she says that she believes Poppy will eventually kill her, telling Casteel that she saw Poppy after Cas gave himself up and realized how powerful she is. Cas tells her his wife is unlike anybody else, and Millie agrees. However, when he mentions that Nyktos is the reason for Poppy’s uniqueness, she corrects him by saying that he knows nothing if he thinks Nyktos is the true Primal of Life and Death. She then details how Isbeth needed a tool/weapon to destroy the realms and lets it slip that Isbeth figured out how to bring to life something that can.
Millie is there to head off Poppy, Kieran, and Reaver while they’re on their way to Carsodonia to save Casteel. A fight breaks out, and they eventually have a discussion where Millie calls Poppy the Queen of Flesh and Fire. Ultimately, they all end up at Wayfair.
Later, Millie tells Poppy the Queen wishes to speak with her about the future of the kingdoms and the True King of the Realms and informs Poppy that New Haven and Whitebridge have fallen under Atlantian control—the Blood Crown received a missive. She adds that everyone’s been on edge since. Poppy refuses to wear the outfit Millie brings her because it’s white and says she won’t be forced to look like the Maiden again. She tells Millie to either get her something else or she’ll go naked. Millie jokes that it would almost be worth letting Poppy go like that just to witness the outcome.
